


the difference ’tween a lemon and a lime

by smartlike



Category: Harry Potter RPF
Genre: Humor, M/M, Pre-Slash, RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-15
Updated: 2013-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-26 14:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/967137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smartlike/pseuds/smartlike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rupert looked over at Dan, who was making a show of paying attention even though Rupert could tell that he was really just watching Rupert from the corner of his eye. Somehow, Dan still hadn't realized that they couldn't really get in trouble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the difference ’tween a lemon and a lime

**Author's Note:**

> Betas by kel. and apaintedmaypole.  
> Originally posted at http://www.obsessivetendencies.net/am/

When Rupert said it for the seventh time in five interviews, Dan reached over and tapped him on the elbow. Rupert turned, eyes wide, open smile and Dan blinked a few times. "Err---"

Rupert tilted his head and waited patiently while Dan tried to relocate his words.

"School's not really so bad as all that, is it?" he asked.

Rupert looked like he was really considering this. Finally, he shrugged. "But this," he gestured around the set, "is better."

Dan couldn't exactly argue with that, so he simply rolled his eyes. Rupert was turning to greet another reporter and didn't seem to notice.

*

Rupert was the last one into the room that served as the on set classroom and the lesson had already begun. He folded himself into a seat next to Dan and shrugged an apology to the tutor. Three and a half films and Rupert didn't have to turn around to know that Emma was frowning at him. He spent a few minutes trying to decide if it was cool or weird how much they were all like their character. Perhaps if he'd never taken this job he would have grown into a bright-eyed over-achiever. The tutor asked someone to work a quadratic equation on the board and Rupert's eyes started to droop, so he decided probably not.

He was half dreaming about pink elephants dancing on a rocky stretch of land by the sea, when a piece of paper bounced off his cheek and landed on his unopened notebook. He pulled at the edge, unfolding and didn't bother to hide it from the tutor. Rupert may not have liked these classes, but he was well aware of the movie cameras in the next room and he knew it wasn't really school. 

On the paper, the equation from the board was worked out in messy blue ink, slashed x-es and some math that didn't look right to Rupert. Below that was a single sentence in much neater writing. _Where were you?_.

Rupert looked over at Dan, who was making a show of paying attention even though Rupert could tell that he was really just watching Rupert from the corner of his eye. Somehow, Dan still hadn't realized that they couldn't really get in trouble.

Rupert dug into his pocket for a pen, brushing the sticky piece of cellophane that came with it to the floor. He scrawled _with Stan_ and licked at his lips to taste tea and the sharp bite of lemon. Dan was trying to read the paper without turning his head and Rupert snorted with laughter. The tutor raised her eyebrow rather impressively, but said nothing. Rupert handed the unfolded paper across the aisle to Dan and didn't watch him read it, letting his eyes close again.

*

Dan didn't talk much about Emma. Partially because she had told him not to and partially because a part of him thought their entire relationship was weird and even vaguely incestuous. So when she threw his favorite Smiths' record to the trailer floor and stomped on it twice, shouting, "this was a bloody awful idea!", he was inclined to agree. He didn't try to stop her from leaving, just stared at the three parts of a circle littering the carpet.

Rupert went with him to replace the record and frowned sympathetically when they could only find it on CD. He leaned against one of the bins, his fingers trailing over a row of plastic cases. He glanced at something and Dan followed his eyes. Oasis and Dan didn't mean to sneer, but he felt his lips curling before he could stop it.

"Oh, sod off," Rupert said cheerfully. "They're wicked." But Rupert didn't lift the CD out, just flipped along to the next one. 

Dan stared into space for a few seconds, then sighed. "I'll just get this then, yeah?"

Rupert nodded at the CDs in front of him as if one had said something profound and his hair fluttered over his eyes. "What was a bloody awful idea, was bringing your record collection on set in the first place."

Dan started, and felt a slight blush creep over his cheeks as he looked away and then back to Rupert. "You heard---"

Rupert shrugged and let the cases bang together before looking Dan in the eyes. "The other things? They were just inevitable, mate."

Dan stared at Rupert and then at the cd in his hand. He wondered how long Emma would stay angry. Rupert didn't say anything else, just took the CD from Dan and headed towards the front of the shop. Dan followed, but didn't say anything, just listened to Rupert make small talk with the cashier.

*

Gary was on set for the first time this film and Dan had disappeared. Rupert figured they were connected, knew without asking anyone that Dan was lurking outside Gary's trailer like a schoolboy with a crush. Rupert was waiting around to film yet another scene where he and Dan glared at each other from across the Great Hall and he'd already eaten, made plans to go to dinner with Alfred after they wrapped and talked to Steve about changing a few lines here and there. He'd come into the make-up trailer to get touched up, but only one of the girls was there and she was carefully applying dirt to Emma's face. 

Rupert flipped his hair back and leaned against the wall, his feet swinging and hitting the makeup counter. Emma had her head tipped back and one eye closed. Her other eye was fixed on the script page she'd taped to the mirror. Rupert knew she already had the lines memorized.

"Where is he?" she asked out of nowhere, startling the makeup girl.

Rupert shrugged, his shirt sliding against the glass at his back. "Gary, probably."

"Of course." Emma wrinkled her nose as a stray strand of hair was pushed into her eye. "He's brilliant and all, I guess, but you'd think Dan was in love."

Rupert frowned and pushed himself off the counter, his thick Weasley socks cushioning his feet from the hard landing. "Well, you'd know."

Outside he frowned again. He'd never really thought of himself as one for dramatic exits. He shook his head and went to find Mike and see if this scene was actually going to happen today. He carefully didn't pay attention to Gary's trailer as he passed.

*

Dan leaned against a tree, his fingers playing idly with the hem of his jumper. It was starting to get cold out here and their ride back was already ten minutes behind schedule. Mike had said something about doing more shots on the Hogwarts set this evening, but Dan yawned and hoped it would be too late. He let his eyes close and thought of a warm, dry bed.

"Right sick of this fucking lake," Rupert said from somewhere that seemed too close to Dan's ear.

Dan opened his eyes slowly and turned his head. Rupert was moving backward like rewinding a scene in a movie. He smiled and rubbed at his wet hair with a blue towel. Dan ran a hand through his own hair which was already dry.

"We shouldn't have to come back," Dan said when Rupert finished with the hair and bent to stuff the towel in his knapsack. "I think Mike got everything he wanted this time."

Rupert was rummaging around in the bag and his voice was muffled when he said, "Yeah, I know." He stood up and held out a brown paper bag. "I found this when I was home last weekend."

Dan frowned a little and took the bag. It was thin and flat and the paper crinkled between his fingers. Dan reached inside and pulled out a record. He turned it over and stared, eyes wide, at an LP of _Meat Is Murder_.

Rupert was looking over his shoulder. "Weren't they supposed to pick us up already?"

"You found this?" Dan ran his hand over the plastic.

"Some shop a friend said had everything. Guess he was right." Rupert turned back around. "You hadn't found it yet, yeah?"

Dan shook his head. "Only that cd." Rupert nodded, his wet hair sticking a little bit at his temple. "Thanks." Rupert nodded again and Dan looked at the album again. He scuffed his feet in the dirt and blinked.

A few seconds passed and Rupert reached out and tapped his elbow. "You wanna get something to eat when we get back?"

Dan put the record back in the bag. "We could find Devon and Tom?" He hadn't really meant for it to be a question.

Rupert's eyes narrowed slightly and he shrugged. "Tom'll just go on about that fishing contest thing." Dan nodded and Rupert smiled a little, licked at his lower lip. "Just us, then?"

Dan held the brown paper in his hand, nodded, and didn't look away from Rupert's face as the car pulled up behind them.


End file.
